


strike the ball into my heart

by skyrhapsody



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: M/M, coping mechanism as my teams go out one by one in this wc lol, im terrible at description and football terms so dont tell me i didnt warn you welps, other skaters cameo bc its a football squad i need the names, pre-slash yuzuvier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-01 06:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15136925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyrhapsody/pseuds/skyrhapsody
Summary: Yuzuru is roped into watching a football match. He gets more than he expects.





	strike the ball into my heart

Weeks ago, if someone said Yuzuru was going to watch a football match, he would laugh at them in that fake way he's good at  and told them they were being ridiculous because he had zero interest in any other sport except figure skating.

Of course, he can't very well say that now since Yuzuru Hanyu is currently sitting on the stands overlooking the football field beyond, holding the orange juice in his right hand Alex has bought as a part of the bribe. 

The said person is looking on his phone beside him, prattling on the Cricket players' information to Yuzuru, the team he's rooting today. But being a reluctant audience, Yuzuru looks around instead, noticing how enthusiastic everyone is. Except him.

"Are you even listening?" Alex finally realises he doesn't have any willing listener and glowers at Yuzuru.

For maximum annoying effect, he sips at the juice first before answering, "Nope." Popping the 'p' at the end.

"I should have known..."

He scrunches his face, "Alex, it is a rowdy sport. I don't want to see people fighting for a ball. It's stupid."

"It's not just 'fighting for a ball'," He rolls his eyes and makes an air quote, "There are strategies and formations you have to do to make it effective for a team to function! Why am I even going with you?"

Yuzuru makes an unimpressed face, "Because Maia is sick? And you don't have any friend and don't want to go alone? Should I list more?"

"No, that's enough. You're just being boring. It's soccer! Be more enthusiastic!"

He shrugs and halfheartedly lifts his free hand to make a fist, "Yay?"

"I can't. I really can't." Alex covers his face with his hands, defeated.

Yuzuru grins.

\--

Thirty minutes passes and finally the match looks like it's going to start. The players come out from the door on the right side of where Yuzuru and Alex are sitting. The Toronto Cricket, Alex points out, are the ones using the red uniforms. The other team, Montreal Gadbois, wears white.

Alex cheers up again, enthusiastically giving trivia as the captains gather for the coin toss. Yuzuru begins to regret that he doesn't wear his glasses because from his view here, he can't read the players' names on the back of their jerseys. Or seeing their faces on that matter unless they're standing near him. He has to rely on the number on their backs and what Alex has fed him.

There's no. 15 Fernandez in Cricket that Alex knows personally and an ace of the team. No. 1 Massot is the goalkeeper and he's an intimidating one with his towering height. No. 3 Jin is small but his reflex is quick and makes a great defender. There's the no. 12 Uno, another Japanese, who is another small player, but he's quick at his feet.

At the opponent's team, Moir and Chan are the golden combination. Bates is also very strong. Cizeron as the goalkeeper can't be underestimated because his long limbs enable him to reach wider.

The Gadbois wins the coin toss and they take the left side. Yuzuru and Alex are sitting on Cricket's side, just a few rows behind the goal post. Finally they kick the ball and the match has really started.

From an outsider's perspective, their skill seems evenly matched. Yuzuru still can't see what Alex calls strategies or formations, but he's getting swept up by the audience's excited cheering nevertheless and soon, he's shouting along when Cricket has the ball in their possession. Alex has never been prouder.

They both groan when Moir scores first and Yuzuru even lets out a quick curse in Japanese, especially when the Gadbois surrounds Moir and someone lifts him up.

"Can they attack back when they do that?" Yuzuru asks impatiently.

"No." Alex looks at him like he's crazy.

"Ugh."

The Cricket counter-attacks with Fernandez headlining the attack. Alex yells something like 'Havi' which Yuzuru assumes is his first name, pumping his fist on the air. Yuzuru gets into the mood, holding his breath as Fernandez breaks through the Gadbois' two people defence and scores past Cizeron with a ball that Yuzuru thinks going to miss when it curves midway and passes the goal line smoothly.

The crowd in Yuzuru's side cheers as one (including him), some standing up and yelling Fernandez on top of their lungs. Alex is one of them, even going as far as to tell everyone around the vicinity that, "See that? He's my best friend and he's a beast!"

Yuzuru has secondhand embarrassment.

The Gadbois attempts to score more, but Massot the goalkeeper is having none of it and making effortless saves. Yuzuru wants Massot to lift him up with those arm, to be honest. The glimpse of the muscle beneath the long sleeve when he flexes his muscle is so tempting. 

When half time arrives and the score is still a tie of 1-1, Alex slumps on his seat, tired but glowing happily. He munches on his snack cheerfully, wanting to recharge his energy for the second half. Yuzuru hopes he chokes because it will make a funny spectacle.

"What do you think?" Alex asks while still munching.

"Alright."

"Just alright?" He's grinning ear to ear now.

Yuzuru pouts and admits with a small voice, "Pretty great, I guess."

"Yes! Coming from you, that's a high praise."

Yuzuru is offended, "I'm not stingy with praises."

"You're a perfectionist, Yuzu, and don't argue with me on this one."

"Well..." He can't deny it.

"See?" Alex puts his arm around Yuzuru's shoulder, still grinning, "But I'm glad you're enjoying this. Who's your favourite so far?"

"Fernandez is great?" And he looks amazing too, he mentally adds when he saw him running fiercely with the ball. He still doesn't have a clear view of his face, but Yuzuru is always appreciative of a skilled and passionate person. He's not going to say this outloud, though, because God knows what Alex will do with this information. Probably embarrassing him again.

"Hell yeah! I know Javi since small and he's always been great at soccer. That curved ball is amazing."

"Javi is his name?"

"Javier Fernandez, yes, but he asks everyone to call him Javi. I'll introduce you if you're that interested, Yuzu."

Damn. "Just curious."

"And the sun rises from the west."

"Shut up."

"No." Before Yuzuru can answer back, Alex has seen the players getting back to the field, "Hey, half time's over!"

The second half is more intense as both teams know it's their last chance. Yuzuru's eyes goes back and forth as the ball possession changes, with Gadbois having more. 

Uno intercepts the ball from Chan, passing it to Fernandez. Fernandez runs almost half of the field before Moir, Bates and Donohue crowd him and in his attempt to not losing the ball, he passes it to Chen who's waiting at the side, except he kicks it too high and it flies to the audience seats. More specifically, the ball is coming fast to Yuzuru's direction and in reflex, he raises a hand and the ball hits him hard before it drops to the seat in front of him.

"Are you ok?!"

He inspects his arm, red colour blooming on his pale skin. It doesn't hurt much as compared to falling during jumps, to be honest, but he's more surprised than anything the ball can have so much force to cause a bruise, although he has to admit with his pale skin any external injury is easily visible.

"I'm fine." He answers Alex.

"It makes a great introductory story. Hey, remember me? You hit me with your ball." 

Why is Yuzuru even friends with Alex? He's a terrible human being. "I don't want to introduce myself to him."

"Too bad, because you're meeting him with me after this match."

Alex has focused back on the match, but Yuzuru is panicking, "What?! I haven't heard about this!"

"Now you're hearing it- Hold on, Shoma is, the ball, hell yeah Javi's on the side and there's no one guarding him." He definitely won't hear anything Yuzuru says now, so Yuzuru grudgingly follows the match back.

Uno and Fernandez are passing the ball back and forth, an amazing effort navigating through the opposing players. They reach the goal area and it's heavily guarded by the opposing players. Javi who has the ball decides in few seconds to pass it to Chen at the back, who has a clear line to the goal and he takes the chance.

"GOAL!" The audience screams.

Gadbois tries to tie the game as it will give the extra time or penalty kicks, but the Cricket holds the fort well. They end it with 2-1 in Cricket's favour, and by the end of the game, Yuzuru is sweating profusely after screaming so enthusiastically.

Alex looks more tired than he is, having spend the entire match running a commentaty by himself, but less sweaty and hence, less gross. Yuzuru doesn't want to meet Javi, a potential hot stranger (or at the very least skilled) that he has a minor crush on when he's gross like this.

Alex drags him to the exit when the audience clears up, saying that now they're going to meet with Javi and takes him to a Spanish restaurant since he's been craving some tapas. They're now standing below a tree, covering them from the sun.

Yuzuru tries to get out on this one, "I have work, Alex, I want to go home."

"You're only playing games at home, don't lie to me." His friend quickly answers, "And your mom says you need more friends, anyway."

He deflates. If his mother has a say on it, then he definitely can't make any excuse to get out of it. Curse Alex who gets along with his mother and enjoys mothering him.

"But I don't pay." He threatens weakly as his last resort.

"I don't too, it's Javi's treat." He smiles smugly, taking out his phone and typing something, "Ok, he's going to be here soon."

"Javi is treating?!" He doesn't even know Yuzuru!

"I'm treating?" There's a new voice joins in, surprising Yuzuru who's been facing Alex.

He turns around and meets Javi's eyes. Yuzuru thanks the God he's handsome up close, totally worth the fanboying that he did. He has similar height as Yuzuru, just a tad bit taller. He has changed from the uniform, now donning a more casual wear of simple t-shirt and jeans.

Alex doesn't miss a beat, "Of course you do. And poor Yuzuru here is the one who got hit by the ball, you have to compensate him."

If Javi isn't here, Yuzuru is going to kill Alex.

"It's you?" Javi looks concerned, "Really sorry about that. Are you hurt?"

"It's nothing-"

"He has red bruise on his arm where the ball hit him." Alex informs almost too happily for Yuzuru's liking.

"It's nothing!" He insists, "I fall a lot when figure skating. I can handle it."

Javi nods and smiles warmly, "Ok, but I've treat you for an apology."

"You don't have to."

"I want to. And I'd love to treat you more than Alex."

Alex snorts, "I'm still here, guys, and I'm offended."

"No one cares." Javi grins teasingly.

"This is how you repay me after supporting your soccer career?"

"I told you it's football, and yes." He offers his hand to Yuzuru, "I'm Javier Fernandez, and you?"

Yuzuru shakes his hand firmly, "Yuzuru Hanyu, nice to meet you."

 --

Yuzuru is half in love by the time they arrive at the restaurant. Javi is close with Shoma Uno and he's learning a few of Japanese phrases and has been using it in front of Yuzuru shamelessly. The accent is terrible, but he's endeared with the effort to learn another language and charmed with the courage of saying it outloud even if Javi knows he butchers it. 

Alex's face looks so done when Javi sits beside Yuzuru and he has to take the seat opposite them, "Why am I thirdwheeling you guys?"

Yuzuru stares at him in confusion, English not proficient enough to understand slangs, while Javi just looks at him weirdly and says, "You aren't?"

"Oh God, I'm done." He dramatically massages his temple, "I can't believe you guys are so dense! Ok, let's just ignore the elephant in the room right now and open the menu, yes."

"What elephant in the room?" Yuzuru is still confused.

Javi patiently tries to explain while he opens another menu, "It means that you have an issue that hasn't been talked about and that makes everyone feels... awkward."

"Ohh..." English slangs are weird, he decides. He opens his own menu and is overwhelmed within seconds by the combination of Spanish and English, "Javi, what is good here?"

"The tapas here is good so I want to order some, but it's not a main course so you might want to get something bigger."

He frowns, "I don't understand what this descriptions mean, can you order me something?"

"Of course." He smiles, "Any allergy or something that you don't like?"

"No bell peppers." Yuzuru says, "I hate it."

"Wow, that's a strong word. Any reason why?"

"Mistaked bell pepper and tomato once. Not again." He shudders remembering it. He never feels more betrayed that time.

They order the food and soon the conversation turns casual between the three of them. Alex and Javi hung out often with Maia sometimes, and the reason why Yuzuru and Javi haven't met before is because Yuzuru doesn't go out much. Javi laughs when Alex tells him that Maia has to sacrifice herself to make Yuzuru go out from his cave and Yuzuru just pouts but laughs along at the end.

"Can you believe the first time I met him during a soccer practice for kids," Alex wheezes, "He scolded me that it should be 'football', not 'soccer'."

"I have to let you see the light." He says, "It should be football since the sport comes from England, how can you change the name like that? Right, Yuzu?" He asks for support.

"I don't know." Yuzuru says back honestly, "We call football 'sakkā' in Japan, which is soccer in English. But we probably got the word from the Americans..."

"So as Japanese American, it is soccer." Alex interjects triumphantly, "You football supremacist is wrong."

Javi glowers, "So I'm surrounded by uneducated people."

"I'm uneducated too?"

"No, no! You just don't know!" He quickly assures Yuzuru, "I'm mainly only referring to Alex."

They ignore Alex's 'whipped' comment as Yuzuru replies, "It's ok, Alex is always dumb."

Behind Javi's loud laughter, there's Alex whining about unfair how they bond over his expense.

\--

"Thank you for paying..." Yuzuru fidgets nervously with his finger while he and Javi walk side by side to the direction of their places. Alex's house is on different direction, so they have said their farewells before setting off. Javi has graciously offered to walk him home, but they've been walking for few minutes with an awkward silence that he can't bear.

"No problem. I hope you enjoy the Spanish food."

"I like them!" He chirps happily. He's usually picky with food, but either the ones Javi order suit his taste or the Spanish food in general are just delicious, "The tapas and churros are so good. I will ask my mom to come back with me."

He smiles, "Good, the more people the merrier. I feel like I've succeeded making more people interested in Spain."

"Spain is good. I went to Barcelona before for competition and it's a beautiful city." Yuzuru says, "Didn't have time to walk around, though.

He nods, "You still have time. And you need to also see Madrid next time. It's my hometown so I can take you around to local places. I always go back for Christmas so tell me when you're there, ok?"

"Next time?" Yuzuru eyes him with a small smile, "You want to meet me again?"

 Javi nervously scratches his nape, "If you want to, of course. No pressure."

"I want to." His eyes sparkle as he takes out his phone, "Exchange phone number?"

Javi smiles widely.

\--

That night, Alex gets two thank you messages from two numbers. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> the soccer/football discourse is still so funny to me (like i use football personally bc it sounds more class but bc its the literal english translation of my language) and i try to use soccer bc alex is american and football for javi bc he's spanish I HOPE THIS DOESNT GET CONFUSING
> 
> ~~rip germany you will be missed (bruno is my tribute to manuel neuer whos done nothing wrong)~~
> 
> thank you for reading this whole mess lmao


End file.
